Our shadow is golden

 Whatever we believe holds us back on the quest towards enlightenment is not the problem, be it greed, gossip, financial insecurities, sex, or whatever else. The problem is that there is “someone within” looking down on us. The “shadow” just shows us that our approach is wrong. What we identify with as “I” is the problem. There is a person perspective within who wants to get enlightened, who wants to lose personhood. It’s a contradiction that cannot be solved. The annoying “shadow” just mirrors back this problem of trying to square the circle.

 

So what to do? Nothing! Open up and let Grace in. Appreciate the nature, your friends, your beloved, your family, your job, your mission. Appreciate everything without a center, just be. When the personhood comes back, just see the desire to be spiritual, to be ethical, to be a cut above the fellow next door and accept the ego for what it is. See that center from which this personhood acts, when it tries to meditate, tries to watch his thoughts, tries to be serene. Just watch the made-up center of the spiritual seeker or the greedy fellow and watch it melt into no-thing-ness.